Duke Ellington Center’s Free Concert Encourages Music and Arts in Public Schools

Mahattan, NY, April 30, 2010 --(PR.com)-- Children from schools in the immediate neighborhood watched and listened among a large audience of New Yorkers and tourists of all ages, as their peers played music, danced, recited poetry and even participated in a jam session with professional musicians from the Blue Millennium Orchestra. The show included a spectacular presentation by 30 tiny musicians from Brooklyn’s Public School 345 Concert Band, after which the assembled throng marched across Central Park, to the sound of Duke Ellington’s amazing two-note composition “C-Jam Blues”—led by 40 Fifth Graders from the nearby Allen Stevenson School piping away passionately on their recorders.

April 29 was declared Duke Ellington Day in New York City last year, and Duke Ellington’s granddaughter, Mercedes Ellington, is determined to use the annual occasion as an opportunity to highlight the importance of music and arts programs in schools. Based on her ongoing collaboration with the Louis Armstrong Music Therapy Program at Beth Israel Medical Center, Ms. Ellington believes that participation in the arts makes children healthier.

On hand to present the scientific facts was Dr. Joanne Loewy, Director of The Louis Armstrong Center for Music and Medicine at Beth Israel Medical Center. In brief, but well-founded remarks, Dr. Loewy spoke about the influence of music in keeping children and teens healthy and invested in wellness. Apart from the expected emotional and psychological benefits of playing music, Loewy highlighted the nexus between jazz in particular and a range of physical benefits that children with asthma derive from playing. “The Center’s Asthma Initiative Program (AIP) gives kids free Yamaha winds and teaches them jazz and improvisation, which keeps them breathing and in control of their symptoms,” said Loewy.

Kicking off the program, the Blue Millennium Orchestra played a small selection from Duke Ellington’s vast repertoire of over 3,000 songs. Noted jazz/opera vocalist Darby Dizard accompanied the band, frequently encouraging participation from the children. Up next, was Harlem’s own Duke Ellington School and their Ellington Poets Society with a couple of delightful poems featuring the importance of music, and a combined delivery in both English and Spanish.

Two brilliant teenage poets from The Heritage School took the stage and presented their own personal and very touching compositions describing Duke Ellington’s influence on their own appreciation of music, art and culture.

One of the highlights of the show was the Dance Times Square Dance School Ensemble, with three couples delivering a fascinating performance of the Lindy Hop. This was followed by the absolute stars of the show: The P.S. 345 Concert Band. Made up of 30 grade school children from one of the most downtrodden areas in Brooklyn, these young musicians, who practice year-round from 7 to 8 every morning, stole the hearts of everyone in the audience with their disciplined and excellent performance of several Ellington numbers, including complex arrangements of “Caravan” and “Satin Doll.”

The biggest surprise of the day was the jam session between the professional musicians from the Blue Millennium Orchestra and the kids from P.S. 345, featuring Ellington’s “It Don’t Mean A Thing, If It Ain’t Got that Swing.” As the concert gradually came to a close, 40 fifth graders of the Allen Stevenson School’s Recorder Ensemble took over—preparing the audience for the march to follow, playing “C-Jam Blues” (also called “Duke’s Place”). Following these young pipers, the crowd marched across Central Park to the West Side—umbrellas aloft, New Orleans style—with all of the professional and student musicians joining in the music.

Given the connection between music, the arts and children’s health—both physically and emotionally, lead sponsors for this year’s event were Emblem Health and Fidelis Care NY. Though competitors in delivering free health coverage to children in New York, the two companies support the Ellington Center’s view that important goals are best accomplished by harmonious collaboration. Representatives of the companies handed out gifts to the children and information about free health insurance to parents. Mrs. Matilda Raffa Cuomo of Mentoring USA, lauded the achievement as “an impressive milestone that signals a remarkable turning-point in the business community.”

Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington (April 29, 1899 to May 24, 1974) was a bandleader, pianist and the twentieth century’s most prolific composer. He started playing the piano when he was 7 years old, formed his first band when he was 25, and kept it going for more than 50 years. He traveled with his band all over the globe bringing American Music to audiences large and small on every continent. When the U.S. State Department launched their “Jazz Ambassador” program in 1956, Duke became a key component of that highly successful global exercise in cultural diplomacy. He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1969. The Jazz Ambassador initiative ended in 1972 after Duke, though battling terminal cancer, made the last goodwill tour through Africa. He died two years later.

A source of immense pride and a great example of equality for Americans, black and white, Duke felt that racial integration was just a stepping stone to a much more important universal goal: Human harmony beyond category. As he traveled the world, Duke saw that his music often had the effect of helping people overcome their differences. Based on Duke’s philosophies, The Duke Ellington Center for the Arts now develops programs to stimulate harmony among people using music and the arts. The Center seeks to help individuals become “Messengers of Harmony” in the world by encouraging more engagement in music and the arts—especially at a young age.

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